Effects of the addition of roller mill ground corn to pelleted feed during a fifty-six-day production period on growth performance and processing yields of broiler chickens

Abstract

Poor pelleting production rates can raise the milling cost and increase the frequency of feed outages for broiler integrated operations. The number of broilers marketed to heavy BW has been increasing, and meeting feed delivery schedules can be problematic with “big bird” complexes. Adding rolled corn post pellet is a management strategy to increase feed production rate while concurrently decreasing energy use of the grinding and pelleting processes. This study evaluated the addition of screened rolled corn to pelleted feed on live performance and meat yield of broiler chickens during a 56-d grow-out. Four dietary treatments were provided: A) a control, no added corn post pellet from 18 to 56 d of age; B) addition of 25% of the formulated corn post pellet from 18 to 56 d of age; C) addition of 10, 20, and 30% of the formulated corn post pellet from 18 to 35, 36 to 46, and 47 to 56 d of age, respectively; and D) addition of 20, 30, and 40% of the formulated corn post pellet from 18 to 35, 36 to 46, and 47 to 56 d of age, respectively. Final BW, cumulative feed conversion, 38-d BW uniformity, and 57-d breast meat weight and yield were similar among the dietary treatments. These results indicate screened rolled corn can be added post pellet without adversely affecting broiler performance and meat yield.